79 states criminalise people on the basis of their sexuality or gender identity

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons may be imprisoned or sentenced to death by the legal systems that are required but fail to protect their human rights. And those abuses have no repercussions in the international arena where countries recently elected as President of the UN General Assembly, a member of the government of Uganda, which passed one of the most homophobic anti-gay laws anti-gay law. European countries systematically violate the rights of irregular migrants, refusing to acknowledge that those persons have exactly the same human rights as all other individuals within their territory. Australia goes further, forcing irregular migrants into a pseudo prison camp in a nearby country. Inequality Women continue to be denied their rights in many parts of the world, particularly in Islamic countries where they frequently are treated as property rather than as humans. Even in Global North states such asIrelandand the US, women’s rights to health and to life are violated through legal or practical restrictions on abortions and reproductive health. Race and religion remain primary grounds for discrimination, whether against the Roma in Europe, the Aboriginals in Australia, Jews in Arab countries, Palestinians in Israel, the Tamils in Sri Lanka, and non-Muslims across parts of the Islamic world, to name just a few examples. Torture But it is not just discrimination against certain groups that ought to concern us. Many countries indiscriminately abuse the rights of any or all persons within their territory. Most rights may be limited in exceptional circumstances, such as to protect the public or during times of warfare.  A few rights, like torture and slavery, are absolute rights whose violation can never be justified. Yet even those rights are routinely disregarded and abused.